Brexit explained

Be very wary of those welcoming messages, they might just be hiding something more sinister for unsuspecting visitors…

Welcome to Cardiff City Stadium

“It’s those immigrants, coming here and taking our overpaid prima donna roles.” [With only five Welsh players in the whole squad, three of whom you never hear about!]

“How is our local economy going to survive?” [Our home grown talent has to make do with only a few grand a week!]

“It’s those foreigners, coming here and taking all off our points!” [Cardiff City 0 Queens Park Rangers 2.]

“What is happening to our sovereign status as an independent sporting power?” [Oh yes, we are in hock to a Malaysian owner!]

Until we speak again, keep the welcome in a language designed to keep all of those interlopers baffled…

Welcome in Welsh

 

Degrees of difficulty

Seems that the good burghers of Grangetown in Cardiff don’t hold out the warmest of welcomes for posh people!

Grange [2]

But revenge looks sweet, as the owners are no doubt members of the landed gentry; and my guess is they decided if we are not getting in then nobody is getting in!

Grange [3]

Call this food!

 

Until we speak again this Bella hopes that all of your preferred lotion is accessible!

Man, myth, legend, tarmac

X-ray eyesIt’s with laser focus that I decided I would look into the myth and legend of the great Welsh politician of the early 20th century. Yes, you guessed it, he is English. Or is he? Born in Manchester to Welsh parents, he was brought up as a Welsh speaker with English as his second language. As a nation few in number we will take what we can get, so he is Welsh, particularly as he is instrumental in laying the foundations for the welfare state, and was prominent in the development of peace after the ignominiously named ‘Great War‘ (1914-18).

So, how is this majestic pillar of Welsh political traditions celebrated in the capital city? No such thing as just naming a road after this Chancellor of the Exchequer, Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War, Leader of the Liberal Party, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom… he gets an avenue.

Road and purposeBut, in keeping with any questions about ancestry and origin, I wondered just what this tribute was trying to communicate. Most auspiciously, this is a road in search of a purpose, as it’s rush hour dream-like barren state doesn’t reflect what you would normally expect in the name of a great man…

Rush hour dream [1]Rush hour dream [2]

What a difference a match makes. If you needed evidence of how important rugby is to the natives just take a look at this so-called tribute to an icon on a match day (and Wales weren’t even playing!)…

 

 

Road and purpose [1]

Road and purpose [2]

 

 

 

 

 

Who needs an eye-sore of a made-for-purpose coach park when you’ve got a dual carriageway iconically named and vastly under-used. Until we speak again I am Bella, living a politician’s promise away from a made-to-measure coach park.

Road and purpose [3]

Wind Power

Wind turbines: Wind turbines 'killed goats' by depriving them of sleep    As an indoor cat I don’t usually give much thought to the whole issue of renewable energy supplies, so long as at this time of year my in-house heating engineer remembers to turn the damn radiators on. But, there I was one day, minding my own business and continually being  
interrupted by the background noise of some BBC Radio programmes, when some political dude starts rapping on about the state of the planet, and how all you humans are ruining it for cats like us. Plotting an escape

Now I’m not averse to a little breeze around the whiskers from time to time, but this whole wind power thing seemed to be political dude’s answer to all of our problems. Only for a whole bunch of what were called NIMBY’s (Not in my back yard) to phone in proclaiming nothing but an ugly end to our beautiful environment. It seemed to a sophisticated cat like me that the whole political thing generates enough wind to keep me going in cat food for an eternity.

Then it dawned on me… perhaps local politics held a solution! With all of the recent passionate UK attention generated by politics in Scotland, followed by the immediate low point of interest generated by a bunch of numpty’s voting in the looney tunes of Ukip in the English constituency of Clacton, Senedd 1perhaps it would be to Wales, and more specifically my adopted home of Cardiff that we should turn for sustainable sources of wind.
There it was, right on my doorstep, the beached wooden stingray, aka The Senedd, aka the home of the Welsh Assembly… the ultimate source of hot air dressed up as a local seat of power!

On closer inspection it would appear the design of the building, whilst admirably made up of home grown sustainable sources of wood, steel and slate, also had the structural foresight for the job… the politicians are densely housed deep in the basement of the building, and directly above them is the large funnel for capturing the hot air…

Senedd [7]

Senedd [1]

Whilst panoramic views of Cardiff Bay are afforded out of the glass-lined walls, I couldn’t help but think that this also doubled-up as a means of bringing light into proceedings on those occasions when the incumbent politicians were away from their energy-sapping deliberations, desperately searching for the elusive voter.

Senedd [4]

It seems like all of the heat and air generated by debates on the relationship between the Westminster bubble and the Cardiff Bay mushroom has caused structural damage through severe bowing of The Senedd roof…Senedd [8]

… so my next question is where to store all of this wind power to ensure our sustainable energy supplies? The Millenium Stadium has a closable roof and vast acres of space… what goes on in there most of the time? Until we speak again this has been Political Juno engaging the wrath of a nation’s rugby fans.